Agassi inspires Hewitt
Lleyton Hewitt is taking inspiration from some informal hitting sessions with Andre Agassi into the first two Masters Series events of the season starting this week at Indian Wells.

The Australian is heartened after chatting with the past master.

"I was fortunate enough to have a couple of practice sessions with one of my idols, Andre Agassi," Hewitt wrote in his blog. "It was the first time we’d hit since Andre retired from professional tennis after the 2006 US Open. 

"I’ve always admired how Andre went about his business and again was impressed how he was ready to go from the minute he stepped onto the practice court. There was always a purpose for every drill we did and the intensity was amazing.

"It was a great opportunity to not only hit with one of the greatest ever players but also to discuss a lot of things about my game and how the game of tennis is being played these days."

Federer’s illness mystery solved
Roger Federer's fitness mystery at the Australian Open has been solved after his agent revealed the No.1 was suffering with the debilitating mononucleosis virus.

"Roger found out he had mono, and didn't know it," agent Tony Godsick told the New York Times. "He found out a couple of weeks ago. That's probably what was wrong with him.

"He doesn't want to make any excuses and take anything away from anybody. In hindsight, had [his doctors] known he had mono, they wouldn't have let him play."

Federer, atop the ranking for more than four years, has yet to win a 2008 title, losing to Novak Djokovic in the Melbourne semifinals and going out to Andy Murray in the Dubai first round last week.

Federer is said to be fit for his New York exhibition tonight against Pete Sampras, whose all-time record of 14 major singles titles is now within reach of the Swiss, currently on 12.

The completely cured player now hopes to resume his march towards the first title of 2008 at the Indian Wells Masters, starting this week in California.

He originally thought his problem was a case of eating dodgy chicken. "This gave him a reason for why he wasn't able to move and why he wasn't able to recover," said Godsick. "It was annoying for him to not have reasons for why his body wasn't responding."

Federer told the Times: "I was feeling so great in December up until the moment I got sick, so this has been my problem the last couple weeks: really getting back on track".

Roddick and Connors split
Andy Roddick revealed that he and Jimmy Connors have ended their coaching alliance after less than two years, due in part to the tyranny of travel. "Jimmy resigned, it's over," Roddick said after beating Rafael Nadal at the Barclays Dubai Championships. "It happened about a week ago."

Roddick credited the former tennis bad boy with turning around his backhand and perhaps instilling some of the fire on court that characterised the combative Connors in his prime three decades ago.

"I'm sad, but thankful for what he gave me," said Roddick, who will remain with his brother John as coach. Roddick blamed the stress of travel for the 54-year-old Connors and added: "Communication was tough," due to the distances when Connors stayed at home in California during many tournaments.

"It's hard when the match is not on TV to explain where your head's at after the match. It was a matter of logistic as much as anything else."

"When I called Jimmy [in 2006] I was close to down and out as possible. But he got me back into the top 5. I'm not too worried [to be without a coach]. As this match proved, I know how to play, and I'm happy with John.

"I was keeping him away from the golf course and he likes to walk his dog every morning. But I was happy to have spent some time with a legend."

Bob Larson Tennis